12/23/2011

This is a card I did for my friends at iFanboy who run one of the best podcasts and comic sites on the net. I got the basic idea for this last year after they posted an earlier card of mine. I sketched the initial idea for this one on a napkin. Classic. God knows where that thing is, we moved! I'm lucky if I can find socks.

I know the original sketch had the opening and closing panels pretty much as they are. I know I also had the Santa cookie eating panel, the milk drinking and probably the crumbs. I was intrigued by the idea of making each panel a graphic puzzle but I backed off in favor of clarity.

I didn't do the color. When I gave it to Ron Richards, the San Francisco iFanboy, I said I'd like to see sort of a retro color style, like a silk screen print slightly out of alignment. Ron got a recommendation from Jim McCann , the Eisner winning author of THE RETURN OF THE DAPPER MEN (see a preview at that link). Jim pointed Ron at Dan McDaid. Man, he fit the bill perfectly. He didn't do the silk screen thing but came up with textures that really made the "card" look rich and... well, "Christmassy." Ron tied a bow on the package by giving the gutters an old cardstock color. Voila, a Christmas greeting for the iFanbase.

So it's just a small piece of art for some friends that came out way better than expected. But I have to confess that I wanted to add one last panel. I wanted toddler versions of Ron, Josh and Conor, stunned, wide-eyed, pressing their faces pressed between the posts of a stairway bannister. Alas, the concept was beyond my talent.

12/21/2011

By far my most popular posts are those about pitching series and the development process. If you haven't read them, it's worth checking out the archives. I had a development meeting over at Disney Jr. just the other day and we got to talking about how things used to work... back in the day ...in olden times ...when dinosaurs walked the earth ...when Tad shifted over to Disney TV Animation.

Every studio or network has their own method but the generally development is a series of steps: pitch, outline, script, bible/marketing tool, (storybook), storyboard, animatic, pilot, focus group, and series. All that can take from nine months to a year or more, especially if things aren't going smoothly.

There's a reason for each of those steps. Their ultimate goal is to remove any element of chance from the creation of a hit show. But that ain't gonna happen. The thing that's going to hit big with kids can change with every beat of a gnat's wing but that doesn't mean that process isn't useful. There's plenty of useful information to be gleaned from each of those steps.

Of course, more cynical individuals than I would say most of that is execs protecting their butts from higher ups. This theory says that if all the data points to success, a development executive can't be blamed if the show doesn't perform. When the DROIDS and EWOKS animated shows tanked the response was a shrug and, "Who knew it could miss? It was STAR WARS." Whatever the reason those steps are ingrained in the industry. The group I was talking to the other day had a hard time imagining producing shows without animatics or developing them without fully animated pilots.

But back in the mid-eighties when Disney TV Animation was starting up, the process was only pitch, outline, script, series. There were only three places to sell animation in the US and they were ABC, NBC and CBS. You'd present about three art cards, if that, the premise of the show and talk about the lead characters. Based on that ten minute conversation you'd get deal for a script and bible and you'd get that decision at that meeting! You'd pitch in the Fall, get green lit to series in April and be on the air in September. The system wasn't designed for quality productions and Disney pushed, and got, earlier pick-ups.

Those network execs made their decisions based on the overall concept and how the characters played in the script. And eight times out of ten, they went for something with marquee value like a known superhero, a popular movie or TV series or a big toy line. Those things didn't guarantee success but the hit and miss record of the seventies and eighties of the networks then was no worse than today.

You may think that today's system blands out ideas. Too many cooks in the kitchen, too much micro management. Taking a pilot to full animation for multiple focus group screenings may seem like butt covering but it actually allows the networks to take greater risks.

I bet there are more original animated series on TV today than at any other time in history. Plenty of them don't have anything approaching a high concept. A sponge living on the bottom of the sea? Kids fighting boredom by inventing impossible in their backyard? A 23-year-old racoon and blue jay? How do those pitches say "hit?"

But if the execs believes in the creativity of the show runners, they'll chance a script, then storyboard, animatic and finally a full pilot. At every step the creator gets the opportunity to show what was in his head and flesh it out. Meanwhile, the development folks aren't risking a huge outlay of cash all at once. Ideas get a chance to breathe, mutate and adapt.

The role of the development exec has changed in a big way. Today they are partners in the creative process, at least through development. They will call your show, their show and from their perspective it is. They bought it, they nurtured it and they saw to your care and feeding. That's a good thing because you want them on board, fighting for your show at every step of the way. In fact, at some studios the development exec may become a producer on a series.

There've always been executives who take a producing title on a series or movie even if their role is insignificant but some may actually roll of their sleeves and do some heavy lifting. But this is most likely to be the situation if the show isn't completely yours.

I have two shows in development. My show at Cartoon Network is 100% my idea. My show at Disney Jr. is my adaptation of a Disney owned property. At CN the execs explained why they bought my idea, pushed me to go wilder in my gags and character development and talked about the likes and dislikes of the audience that they want my show to appeal to. They push but they wait to see if I step up to the challenge.

At Disney Jr., the lead characters I'm working with were created by someone else in a different medium. Since they appeared in more than one movie, they are considered a "Disney Brand." That means my ideas had to get the go ahead from an internal brand management committee that decides what brands merit expansion (a big plus: they are ready to help promote the show throughout the company if it hits). My current deal is only for the writing, although, given my Disney experience, the expectation is that I'll be the show runner if it goes to series. But I'm working on their characters.

Currently, I'm in my second draft of the pilot script. While I do that, my development exec is getting artists to work on character designs. She's 100% open to my input and suggestions but if I keeled over dead tomorrow, the she would continue working on the show. At this stage of development, she's the one shepherding the show, not me. She is also the one with the resources that I count on to help me create a series that is partially targeted to pre-schoolers.

The day to day experience of working on either show will be just as creative for me. I'll take responsibility for the Disney Jr. show as much as for my original characters on Cartoon Network. I've always enjoyed the process of creation and development executives are part of that process. I'm sure there are sour apples out there but 95% of the execs I've worked with were not just "suits" but assets.